The Wonders of Late Night Conversations
by Shadow Ice Maiden
Summary: Erik and Zoey have their 'talking without yelling' conversation. Set after Untamed. Turn back now if you haven't read it. Contains major spoilers. Zoey/Erik Full of fluffy goodness. One-shot. A House of Night fanfiction.


SIM: Ok, so I just finished _Untamed_, and I had this idea kind of floating around in my head. It is my first HoN fanfic so I'm very unused to these characters. Don't kill me is all I'm saying

Disclaimer: All characters and plot thingies in this belong to P.C. and Kristin Cast. I got nada…

Warnings: Major _Untamed _spoilers, so turn back now if you haven't read it yet. This is seriously cheesy, but it's something I wish would happen. Erik and Zoey are just so cute. Lotsa ooc and fluff in this. You have been forewarned.

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It was probably around noon. The sun would be shining brightly outside, not that I would go out to look. The chaos caused by the Raven Mockers wouldn't have died down so quickly. I should have been asleep; my eyes stung from keeping them open too long. Evoking all the elements at once had wiped me out, but my mind wouldn't stay quiet enough to let me slip into unconsciousness.

So there I sat, alone on the raggedy couch that had been added to the tunnels. Damien, the Twins, Stevie Rae, and all others holding refuge down here were already asleep. There were so many questions floating around in my head. Was my grandma all right? Did mom and Heath get underground in time? Could we possibly beat Kalona and his malformed children?

"You should probably get some sleep, Zoey." I heard someone say from the other side of the room. There stood Erik, my vampyre ex-boyfriend, still in his black clothes from the ceremony. I noted again just how good black looked on him. _Bad Zoey, this is the guy you cheated on, remember? _I scolded myself.

"I'm too anxious to sleep." I replied quietly.

"What's on your mind?" he asked, taking a few steps towards me.

"Oh, you know. Demons, evil queens, things that want to kill us and take over the world. The usual." I said, attempting nonchalance and failing miserably.

"We'll figure out a way to handle it. We always do." He shot back, shrugging slightly.

"What are you doing up, anyway?" I questioned, opting to change the subject before I worked myself into an anxiety attack.

"Can't sleep. Same as you."

"Same reason?"

"Pretty much."

I could feel the atmosphere beginning to get tense. He may not have hated me anymore, but that didn't relieve the awkwardness of the situation. Then I had a thought.

"Erik, maybe, since we're both awake and since this craziness will probably not allow us to get any time alone in the near future… I was thinking we could try that whole talking without screaming thing…" I suggested nervously.

"Alright…" he sounded hesitant, but I scooted over and he sat down on the other side of the couch. "What do you want to talk about?"

I took a deep breath to steady myself before I began. "I'm not trying to excuse myself, but I'd hoped I could explain a few things to you, to try to make you understand why what happened… happened."

He nodded with caution in his eyes.

"First I just want to make sure you know that what you saw was the first time anything like that happened. It wasn't a long-term affair or anything. He started leaving poems, and then he asked to see the marks on my back, and held me once but that was pretty much it.

"At the time I figured I had three choices: You, him, or Heath. I picked you. I tried to break up with Heath about a million times, but he wasn't taking the hint, and Loren was a teacher, a vampyre, and I didn't really feel right about it." I explained.

"What happened?"

I sighed. "I don't know really. I suppose emotional overload. I was doing all sorts of things I wouldn't normally do. My best friend died in my arms and then came back to life. Her and her friends tried to eat my human ex-boyfriend. I couldn't tell you or Damien or the Twins anything because it would put you in danger. Then you scared the living poo out of me when you changed. I thought…" I paused to take a breath, wiping furiously at the tears leaking from my eyes. "I thought you were going to die. And then you were all right and you left and I just sort of curled up in a ball and sobbed. I was emotionally burnt out and I suppose Loren saw that as an opportunity to take advantage of me…

"I don't know what I was thinking. I was so stupid and I should have listened to you. I'm so sorry, Erik. I never would have done something like that. I don't know what came over me…" I had to stop when the tears turned into sobs.

After a few moments, I felt his arms wrap around me and pull me to his chest. I cried into his shirt for a few minutes until I regained control of myself. Eventually, he pulled me back enough to wipe some of the lingering tears from my cheeks.

"I should apologize too I suppose. My behavior was unacceptable. I shouldn't have brought it up in front of your friends and I shouldn't have pulled that _Orthello _stunt. I was angry and upset, but I handled it poorly."

"You have every right to hate me, Erik." I whispered, almost too quiet for him to hear.

"That was what made me angry though, Zoey. I couldn't bring myself to hate you. I hated Loren and I was definitely pissed off, but whenever I thought about it all I felt was sadness and pain. I felt betrayed and I knew I should've hated you, but I couldn't."

My eyes filled up again and the salty tears ran down my cheeks. How could I have betrayed such a wonderful guy? After everything I'd done to him, he was there comforting _me._ Like I deserved that.

"So what now?" I asked.

"Well, I haven't forgiven you quite yet. And I don't think I'd be able to trust you with my heart again anytime soon. But… maybe, when all this is over, we could give it another try."

My eyes widened and my mouth dropped. "You'd give me a second chance? After everything? Why would you do that?" I whispered hoarsely.

"I guess I just love you, Zoey." He replied quietly, looking anywhere but at me.

"Erik…" I sobbed, "I don't deserve you. How did someone like you fall for someone like me?"

"Zoey, you're a very special person. There's a fire inside of you that can't help but shine. You do everything you can to follow the path Nyx has set for you and you worry about everyone else before yourself. You've made mistakes, but it happens to all of us." Erik replied, taking my hands in his. "I've decided I don't want to lose you. I love you whether it makes sense or not."

He pulled me towards him and once again stroked my hair as I stained his shirt with salt water. I didn't think of Neferet or Kalona or the House of Night or Stark. Those worries would resurface when the sun set. I only thought of the wonderful man holding me. I fell asleep, feeling completely at peace in his arms.

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"Do you think we should wake them?" Erin asked the next morning/evening.

"They're so cute though, twin." Shaunee gushed. "We need a picture!"

"Brilliant as always!" Erin replied before the two ran off to find a camera.

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SIM: So yeah, that was my first HoN fanfiction… I've never written any of these characters before so they're probably ooc, but after reading _Untamed_ I just had to write some kind of Z/E fluff. So don't kill me or anything…


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